What is computer science: Difference between revisions

Latest revision as of 22:41, 11 December 2022

What is Computer Science?^[1]

I discovered this excellent treatment of disciplines within computing from the ACM^[2].

Within the broad scope of computing there are five disciplines:

Computer Engineering (CE)
Computer Science (CS)
Information Systems (IS)
Information Technology (IT)
Software Engineering (SE)

These disciplines share characteristics in the following lanes:

Organizational System Issues
Application Technologies
Software Development
Systems Infrastructure
Computer Hardware and and Architecture

It is a mistake to use the term "computer science" when you in fact mean "software engineering". They are different! There is not universal agreement about these disciplines.

A note about these files: they are fairly dense, and you may need to zoom in to read the characteristics of the different disciplines within computing.

References

[1] ttp://www.flaticon.com/

[2] ttps://www.acm.org/binaries/content/assets/education/curricula-recommendations/cc2020.pdf

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-[[file:system_fund.png|right|frame|System Fundamentals<ref>http://www.flaticon.com/</ref>]]
+[[file:computation.png|right|frame|What is Computer Science?<ref>http://www.flaticon.com/</ref>]]
-This is pretty straight forward stuff. Nothing especially technical. We are concerned with the big picture related how systems integrate into organisations and how people use them. I used the standards from the IB<ref>http://www.ibo.org/</ref>, but added some other topics I think fit into this category (but not included by the IB).
-== The big ideas in system fundamentals ==
-=== Systems in Organizations ===
-A computer program or computer system is used by people who work in organizations. It is very helpful to understand how people, computers, and organizations work together.
-==== Planning and system installation ====
+I discovered this excellent treatment of disciplines within computing from the ACM<ref>https://www.acm.org/binaries/content/assets/education/curricula-recommendations/cc2020.pdf</ref>.
-* [[System planning]]
-* [[Change management]]
-* [[Legacy system]]
-* [[Testing implementation]]
-* [[Installation process]]
-* [[Data migration]]
-* [[Testing]]
-==== User Focus ====
+Within the broad scope of computing there are five disciplines:
-* [[User documentation]]
+* Computer Engineering (CE)
-* [[User training]]
+* Computer Science (CS)
+* Information Systems (IS)
+* Information Technology (IT)
+* Software Engineering (SE)
-==== System Backup ====
+These disciplines share characteristics in the following lanes:
-* [[Data loss]]
+* Organizational System Issues
-* [[Preventing data loss]]
+* Application Technologies
+* Software Development
+* Systems Infrastructure
+* Computer Hardware and and Architecture
-==== Software Deployment ====
-* [[Managing releases and updates]]
-=== System Design ===
+'''It is a mistake''' to use the term "computer science" when you in fact mean "software engineering". They are different! There is '''not''' universal agreement about these disciplines.
-==== Components of a computer system ====
-* [[Hardware, software, peripheral, network, human resources]]
-* [[Computers in a networked world]]
-* [[Social and ethical issues in a networked world]] (also see [[ethics]])
-==== System Design and analysis ====
+A note about these files: they are fairly dense, and you may need to zoom in to read the characteristics of the different disciplines within computing.
-* [[Planning and stakeholder involvement]]
-* [[Getting requirements from stakeholders]] (see also [[design process]])
-* [[Gathering information for solutions]] (see also [[design process]])
-* [[Illustrate system requirements]] (see also [[design process]])
-* [[Prototypes]] (see also [[design process]])
-* [[Iteration]] (see also [[design process]])
-* [[Why end-users matter so much]] (see also [[design process]])
-* [[Social and ethical issues associated with the introduction of new IT systems]] (see also [[design process]])
-==== Human interaction with the system ====
+* [[Media:Computing_field.pdf|Click here for an excellent graphic identifying the different computing disciplines.]]
-* [[Usability]]
+* [[Media:Field characteristics.pdf|Click here for a zoomed-in view of the five different disciplines.]]
-* [[Problems with usability]]
-* [[Improving usability]]
-* [[Moral, ethical, social, economic and environmental implications of the interaction between humans and machines]] (see also [[ethics]])
 == References ==